Yesterday morning, I was in a bit of a rush out the door, so I didn't hear that Joe Gibbs had decided to replace Patrick Ramsey as the starting QB here in Washington with Mark Brunell until I got to the office.
Not that I was terribly surprised that Gibbs gave Ramsey the early hook (and I wasn't the only one). After all, this was the same Joe Gibbs who traded three picks (a first, third and a fourth) for a chance to select Auburn QB Jason Campbell in the 2005 NFL Draft.
It was at that point that I concluded that Ramsey was finished, despite what Gibbs would later say about the starting job being an open competition, and that Ramsey was the presumed starter heading into training camp.
Here's Mike Wise of the Washington Post:
Gibbs strung Ramsey along like a girlfriend he knew he was never going to marry. He took a mentally fragile young player and never truly instilled the confidence in him that Ramsey needed to thrive. Long before he benched Ramsey and went back to Brunell on Monday, Gibbs handled the quarterback situation with about as much aplomb as a fast-food shift manager firing a fry cook on the spot.
Ok, how about Mike Wilbon?
After paying lip service to being committed to Ramsey as his starter, Gibbs gave Ramsey all of three series Sunday. Bad blind dates last longer than that. Okay, we all pretty much knew it was a matter of time before Gibbs might want to get a look at Brunell, his hand-picked choice to play the position. But three series ? That's not a short leash, it's a choke collar. It's like he was looking for some reason to yank Ramsey, and the hang-'em-high sack that sent Ramsey to the sideline was the bit of intervention that gave Gibbs his opening. If I were Ramsey, having been undermined for the second straight season, I'd be enraged. Frankly, that's a move I expect from Mike Martz, coach of the St. Louis Rams, not Gibbs, a man of patience and faith to whom one's word means everything.
And though Tony Kornheiser probably knows less about Xs and Os than any other columnist in town, that didn't prevent him from getting this call right:
After Ramsey nearly got decapitated in the second quarter Sunday
As a die hard Bears fan, I will defend that although nasty looking the hit was legal, but Ramsey should send Briggs flowers, because he finally gave Ramsey that last reason to get the heck out of dodge.
How Gibbs can question Ramsey’s performance when Brunell checks off more than any QB this side of Shane Matthews I don’t know, but my quess would be he wants Tony Stewart to be the Skins QB.
Thanks for letting me represent Cowboys fans everywhere.
As a Cowboys fan in Redskins country, I’ve had the opportunity to watch a lot of their games. I think Ramsey gives them the best chance to win–or he did before this latest blunder. He’s a tough kid who has taken a real beating the last few years. I think most of the bad decisions he’s been making lately on the field stem from a lack of confidence (with good reason given the short leash Gibbs holds).
I bet he’ll flourish with whatever team he ends up with. I certainly wouldn’t mind having him as a backup with Dallas. How about Drew Henson for Ramsey?